My feed
Premium

Please
or
to access all these features

Use our Single Parent forum to speak to other parents raising a child alone.

Lone parents

What makes a good mum/parent?

0 replies

overwhelmedmummy17 · 18/11/2016 22:25

Hi MN, I'm writing to you as I don't know where to begin. As my username says, I'm feeling incredibly overwhelmed right now. I'm a single mum to two fantastic little girls and tonight everything has got on top of me. I love my children more than anything in the world and the sense of guilt i'm feeling Is unbearable. I feel like I'm doing a terrible job of raising my children and it doesn't help having an ex-partner who makes indirect put downs about my abilities as a mother via the children. I've always been terribly inconsistent with housework, we're never dirty but most days the house is untidy and the thought of someone dropping in unannounced fills me with the fear. We do socialise with other people a lot but I prefer to do it out of the house. Tonight I came downstairs after putting my children to bed and realised we have to be up early in the morning to go ice skating and I've not laid out any clothes for them- it then got me thinking I never lay any clothes out, I expect them to pick their own clothes which is perhaps a tall order for a 9 and 6 year old? I'm always showing my children affection and i'll always do activities with them or sit and watch a film they want, our time together is always geared around their interests. But I wonder if all of that is less important than having a sense of order? Don't get me wrong, my children are well fed, bathed daily, clothes are clean, warm etc but I worry i'm not doing well enough. It makes it harder my ex tells my eldest that I don't buy them nice clothes and he worries i'm not taking proper care of them (this was in response to him finding out my youngest went to school with odd socks on). I know it's probably no excuse but I was ill most of this year and finished cancer treatment in June. I was a hopeless housekeeper prior to my illness but I think it's made me even less inclined to waste time cleaning. I want my children to feel secure and I worry I'm not providing that. My ex also got most of our assets including the family home in our divorce settlement so I do not have the income he does to provide for them. He has told them next year he plans to buy a big house with his new partner and her children and they will be able to live with him then. I don't really know if there's anything you can specifically advise on as such but I wanted to reach out and see if any of you do have insight.

OP posts:
Report
Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.